Nicholas Pooran (left) celebrates his 50 with Glenn Maxwell in Dubai on Thursday.
SunRisers Hyderabad almost thought this is their night after they took out three top-order KXIP batsmen within the first seven over and 58 runs on board while setting up a massive 201 target in match 22 of IPL 2020 in Dubai. However, a swashbuckling 17-ball 50 by West Indian Nicholas Pooran meant that SRH were quickly made to remember the cliched adage 'it's not over till it's over'.
The KXIP southpaw shot seven huge sixes and a boundary to reach his 50 while the side was back in the game, reaching 100 by the beginning of 11th over.
Pooran's fifty came at a crucial stage after KXIP looked down and out after a shaky start in the powerplay.
Chasing 201, KXIP were off to a shaky start with Mayank Agarwal (9 off 6) being run out at the non-strikers end after a mix-up with skipper KL Rahul. Prabhsimran Singh (11 off 8) failed to impress in his second IPL outing as Khaleel Ahmed ended his innings in the fourth over with mere 31 runs on the board.
Pooran then had a 28-run stand with skipper Rahul (11 off 16) with the former scoring all the runs in the partnership with 2 runs coming from the extra.
Rahul was at blame for throwing away his wicket with a sweep shot off Abhishek Sharma, who was already facing the heat after being shot for two huge sixes earlier in the over by Pooran.
He then had another agressor partnership with Glenn Maxwell with the duo adding 47-run for the wicket. While hopes were high from the Aussie to stitch a match-winning stand with the in-form West Indian, Maxwell (7 off 12) was run out by Priyam Garg before the Oz could push the throttle.
